by shubham, on February 25 2016

Heya Inbound Marketers! Today we have a special guest who has conquered the SEO market at a very young age of 21. Yes, you are right, it’s none other than Neil Patel, Co-founder of Crazy Egg, Kissmetrics, Hello Barand also known for his blog Quick Sprout. This SEO industry millionaire has helped big giants like NBC, GM, Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, Viacom and HP in minting more dollars. He is acknowledged as a top 100 entrepreneur below the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs below the age of 35 by the United Nations.

We hope you make the most of this interview.

Shubham - As google answer box helping people in the SERP results and searcher get their answer without visiting the website (in search results), how it will affect on organic traffic of the websites?

Neil - Well this has been the case for a while now. A large portion of the traffic that most websites get are from search results which are why it's vital for a business to focus on search rankings. I don't see this trend changing anytime soon. Google has also been doing this for a while and sites can still get lots of search traffic.

Shubham - Being a digital marketer, what 5 key things I should keep in mind this year and beyond?

Neil:

Write compelling content that resonates with your audience.

Make sure your content is in-depth

Use compelling imagery

Make sure you are answering questions that your niche doesn't have answers to

Create a brand that is personable and helpful

Shubham -Marketers suggesting that we should earn links rather than build links, What's your strategies to earn high-quality links? Please share some unique techniques (except guest blogging) that could help everyone to earn links.

Neil - I think the best way to earn links is to share your content with people in your niche that are influencers. Make sure you share their content as well -- creating that reciprocal loop can go a long way. Focus on relationship building and the links will come.

You can also email out every single person you link out to when you write blog posts. Then email each of the sites you link out to asking them to share your content. As you get more social shares you will get more traffic and increase the chances that someone links to you.

Shubham -As the current online market became very competitive, and people becoming smarter, so what important things you suggest to a startup based SEO agency? How can they approach the right people?

Neil - Make sure you can back up all the promises you make. There are a lot of agencies out there that over promise and under deliver. The best approach is, to be honest with expectations and provide value. It's as simple as that.

Shubham -Let me ask an interesting question, which of these words should be more focused when dealing with a client - Leads, Ranking, Traffic, ROI? These all are equally important at some level, but what do you prefer to use the most and why?

Neil - I think one should focus on all of these terms. Leads, Ranking, Traffic and ROI all deal with specific metrics that clients will judge on your performance. It's important to mention these throughout any campaign. It's also important to track these metrics so you can get the best results. They are all equally important.

Shubham -How can an SEO agency get more clients if they don't rank higher for their own website? - (This is a lot of SEO agency's problem and your answer can help all of them)

Neil - It's tough to promise something when you don't achieve it yourself. The best way is to work tirelessly at building out your brand and to make sure you are building links, getting leads and optimizing your own ROI. As people see that you are a good marketer, they will hire you.

Shubham -A question in numbers of SEO's mind - Well, many of us have seen that there are a lot of websites still ranks at the top with having so much bad links and duplicate content or very few backlinks & bad website structure. So, what could be the possibilities according to you? Your input on this would be very helpful.

Neil - At the end of the day, it's all about focusing on your own product -- don't worry about how others are ranking. Focus on the right blueprint and don't worry about people who get by without following the right techniques. There are a lot of variables that go into rankings -- so just focus on what works for you. And the best thing to focus on is building a good product/service.

Shubham -Being a successful Entrepreneur/Boss/CEO, what do you suggest to all SEO agency's CEO/Boss? What mentality they should keep, how much patient is required and how they can be successful like you?

Neil - Always keep the customer atop your mind. Treat them well and they will retain your services. It's also important to be patient with employees and pay them well. When you value your team it shows -- the client will pick up on it too ;)

Shubham -Last but not least, if you had the authority to change something in Google, what would that be?

Neil - I like the way it operates now ;) I always iterate and love the challenges they present.

We are thankful to Neil for making some time from his busy schedule and resolving the doubts that have been dwelling in the mind of every SEO for quite some time now.

Flip through these interview questions and reform your SEO Strategies for thriving results.

Shoot your questions and suggestions in the comments area. Your comments are welcomed and really matters!

Shubham

Shubham Tiwari - a Google Analytics Certified Professional handles the position of Sr. SEO Manager at Techno Infonet. He has expertise in SEO, Social Media, Digital Marketing, Google Adwords, Google Analytics and so on.